Shaping Experiences

Experiences shape how we remember the world—let’s design with that in mind.

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As we look ahead to the ILASA/IFLA Africa Conference this September in Pretoria, I’ve been reflecting on how central experience is to the work we do. It’s not just the land we shape—it’s the memories we help create, how we navigate this world, how experiences shape our memories, and how we remember a place, a space, people.

In his regular column From the President’s Desk, IFLA Africa President Graham Young reminded us that landscape architects do more than shape land—we shape experiences. I felt this deeply on a recent walk through a public park where design decisions — sightlines, seating, shade, play — quietly but powerfully shaped how people related to the space and to each other. These everyday experiences define the success of our work more than any drawing ever could.

Pretoria offers us a chance not only to exchange ideas, but to immerse ourselves in the layered landscape of South Africa — a place rich in cultural, ecological, and spatial narratives. It is a fitting setting to explore this year’s conference themes of Reframing the African Landscape, cultural landscape stewardship, and community resilience. We’ll be learning, yes — but we’ll also be experiencing, together.

We hope the conference will inspire you to think more deeply about the experiential dimension of our practice. Because in the end, what we design lives on in how people remember a space — and that, perhaps, is the most powerful legacy of all.

Let’s continue shaping experiences that matter. See you in Pretoria!